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	January 2006	February 2006	March 2006	April 2006	May 2006	June 2006
Attempted customer calls	471,000	428,000	481,000	373,000	431,000	439,000
Calls for which outcome not recorded	3,000	1,000	3,000	0	0	2,000
Calls for which outcome recorded	468,000	427,000	478,000	373,000	431,000	437,000
of which:
Percentage calls that received an engaged/busy tone	0	0	0	0	3	4
Percentage calls otherwise ineffective	3	2	2	2	2	2
Percentage calls abandoned/lost during the IVR process.	6	6	7	7	6	7
Percentage calls abandoned in the queue (post IVR)	6	7	5	3	3	2
Percentage calls answered	85	85	86	89	87	85
Total (percentage)	100	100	100	100	100	100
Percentage calls answered that were available to staff to answer (post IVR)	93	92	95	97	97	98
Average answer time from the queue (hh:mm:ss)	0:00:46	0:00:54	0:00:39	0:00:25	0:00:26	0:00:21
Notes: 1. Data is presented for calls made regarding cases on the new system (CS2) and the old system (CSCS) combined. 2. ‘Attempted customer calls’ exclude calls attempted outside working hours. 3. ‘Calls for which outcome not recorded’ are those which were received but for which, due to problems with the management information system, the eventual outcome was not recorded. Some of these calls would have been answered, and others would have been abandoned. The volume of such calls has decreased significantly in the last 3 years as management information systems have improved. 4. ‘Calls for which outcome recorded’ are those which were received and for which there is management information to track the eventual outcome. 5. Other ineffective calls are those that result in a ring tone but no reply, fail due to network technical problems, or are answered by a BT message but do not connect to the CSA system. 6. IVR denotes the automated touch tone part of the process where clients enter their details via the telephone key pad. Once callers have cleared this part of the process, they enter a queue to be answered by a CSA person. 7. The percentage of calls abandoned in the queue refers to the percentage of total calls received, for which the outcome is recorded, that were abandoned once in a queue to be answered by a CSA person. 8. The percentage of calls answered that were available to CSA people to answer refers to calls answered as a proportion of those that were connected to the queue for an agent (post IVR where appropriate). 9. Numbers are rounded to the nearest thousand, and percentages to the nearest 1 per cent. Components may not sum to totals due to rounding.

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many working days were lost during the process of moving the Child Support Agency to new premises; and if he will make a statement. [93077]

Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.

Letter from Hilary Reynolds:

You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many working days were lost during the process of moving the Child Support Agency to new premises; and if he will make a statement.

The Agency has acquired three new sites over the last 12 months to support the requirements of the Operational Improvement Plan and as part of these acquisitions we have transferred a number of people into the Agency from The Pension Service, Jobcentre Plus and the Disability and Carers Service.

These acquisitions were carefully planned to ensure no working days were lost to the main business. Training was planned in stages and new people were integrated into the main business on completion of training.

Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what arrangements are made for recipients of child support payments when a payment is not made due to a failure at the Child Support Agency and considerable hardship is likely to be faced as a result; [92727]

(2) what system is in place to notify recipients of child support payments that their payment will not be made due to failure within the Child Support Agency; [92728]

(3) what compensation is offered to recipients of child support payments who do not receive payments made due to computer failures within the Child Support Agency (a) in general and (b) where bank charges are incurred as a result. [92729]

Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Mr. Stephen Geraghty. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.

Letter from Stephen Geraghty:

You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions:

What arrangements are made for recipients of child support payments when a payment is not made due to a failure at the Child Support Agency and considerable hardship is likely to be faced as a result;

What system is in place to notify recipients of child support payments that their payment will not be made due to failure within the Child Support Agency; and

What compensation is offered to recipients of child support payments who do not receive payments made due to computer failures within the Child Support Agency (a) in general and (b) where bank charges are incurred as a result.

The Agency has a number of processes in place to ensure that no clients will be disadvantaged by any failings of the CSA in respect of payments due to clients once the required maintenance has been received from the non-resident parent. These processes apply whether this failing is because of system problems or caseworker delay. If problems with the Agency's IT systems prevent case progression, then the case can be progressed clerically. If IT system problems simply prevent the payment from being made, the payment can be processed clerically to ensure that the payment is still issued.

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If a case is progressed clerically both the parent with care and the non-resident parent will be informed that their case is being progressed by a specialist team. However, in cases where systems failures simply prevent the payments due, the issue is only identified at the point the payment fails to reach the parent with care, and the Agency is informed of that failed payment. Once the Agency has been made aware that the payment has not reached its destination, the payment will be made as quickly as possible.

In the event of such a failure the Agency has a tightly controlled process in place to consider compensation for financial loss as a result of Agency maladministration. This includes any bank charges that may have occurred due to the fault of the Agency. The Agency currently has a Special Payments Team in place to deal with financial redress due to maladministration.

I have received a letter from you about a particular case where a payment to one of our clients was delayed. We have replied to your letter separately.

I hope this is helpful.

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) when the decision was taken to use private debt collection agencies for the collection of Child Support Agency arrears; [92731]

(2) how many Child Support Agency cases have been referred to private debt collection agencies in each year since 1997; [92732]

(3) how many Child Support Agency cases are being handled by private debt collection agencies. [92733]

Mr. Plaskitt: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Mr. Stephen Geraghty. He will write to the right hon. Member with the information requested.

Letter from Stephen Geraghty:

In reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about the Child Support Agency, the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.

You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions:

When the decision was taken to use private debt collection agencies for the collection of Child Support Agency arrears;

How many Child Support Agency cases have been referred to private debt collection agencies in each year since 1997; and

How many Child Support Agency cases are being handled by private debt collection agencies

The decision to use debt collection agencies for the collection of Child Support Agency debt was announced in Parliament on the 9th February 2006 as part of the Operational Improvement Plan.

The Agency did not refer any cases to debt collection agencies before August 2005. Between August 2005 and March 2006 the Agency conducted a small scale pilot using two private debt collection agencies to assess the feasibility of involving the private sector to recover Agency debt. As part of this pilot the Agency referred 2000 cases to these agencies. All of these cases were returned to the Agency upon cessation of the pilot.

Following the pilot and procurement exercise the Agency signed contracts with two debt collection agencies on 7th July 2006. Since then the Agency has referred 4433 cases to these agencies. Of these, 1 case has been returned to the Agency as the arrears had been paid in full and approximately 150 cases have been returned at the request of the Agency because a payment arrangement was negotiated by the Agency shortly after the cases were referred.

I hope this information is helpful.

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) what systems his
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Department has in place to measure the performance of Vertex in dealing with manual cases at the Child Support Agency; and if he will make a statement; [93722]

(2) what the length of the term is of the Child Support Agency contract awarded to Vertex; and if he will make a statement; [93723]

(3) how many cases Vertex has taken over from the Child Support Agency; and if he will make a statement; [93724]

(4) which Minister made the decision to award the Child Support Agency contract to Vertex; and if he will make a statement; [93725]

(5) what criteria were used for the tendering process for the contract for the management of the manual cases of the Child Support Agency; and if he will make a statement; [93727]

(6) how many companies participated in the tender process for the management of manual cases of the Child Support Agency; and if he will make a statement; [93728]

(7) on what basis the decision was made to award the contract for the management of the manual cases of the Child Support Agency to Vertex; and if he will make a statement; [93729]

(8) what the commercial value to Vertex is of the contract for the management of manual Child Support Agency cases; and if he will make a statement; [93730]

(9) what training the staff of Vertex have received in handling clerical Child Support Agency cases; and if he will make a statement; [93731]

(10) what mechanisms have been put in place to safeguard data protection by Vertex in their handling of Child Support Agency cases; and if he will make a statement. [93732]

Mr. Plaskitt [holding answers 16 October 2006]: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.

Letter from Hilary Reynolds:

In reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive. I am responding, with his authority, on his behalf.

You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions:

What systems his Department has in place to measure the performance of Vertex in dealing with manual cases at the Child Support Agency;

What the term is of the Child Support Agency contract awarded to Vertex;

How many cases Vertex has taken over from the Child Support Agency;

Which Minister made the decision to award the Child Support Agency contract to Vertex;

What criteria were used for the tendering process for the contract for the management of the manual cases of the Child Support Agency;

How many companies participated in the tender process for the management of manual cases of the Child Support Agency;

On what basis the decision was made to award the contract for the management of the manual cases of the Child Support Agency to Vertex;

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What the commercial value to Vertex is of the contract for the management of manual cases of the Child Support Agency;

What training staff of Vertex have received in handling clerical Child Support Agency cases;

What mechanisms have been put in place to safeguard data protection by Vertex when handling Child Support Agency cases; and if he will make a statement.

The Agency has put in place a robust contract management process to measure the Vertex’s performance in managing its clerical cases. This will be achieved through monthly performance and quarterly meetings, where performance will be reviewed and discussed.

The term of the contract awarded to Vertex was 19 months; this ends in March 2008. Work to the computer system is continuing over 2006/2007 to rectify existing defects. The IT system will be working effectively before the end of the contract with Vertex to enable these cases to be put back onto the system.

It is planned that Vertex will initially manage 22,500 cases on behalf of the Child Support Agency increasing to 34,000 cases over the life of the contract. To date around 13,500 cases from four of the Agency’s six business areas have already transferred to Vertex. The remaining cases are due to transfer later this month.

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